When Awakening to a Nightmare
by Lana Bloodmoon
Summary: A what if story, Robin having fully embraced his life as Grima's vessel, sets a plan in motion to kill the only person able to banish him and his new partner. His plan slowly gets torn apart as a team of future children try to stop their future from happening, especially the one who could be either his salvation or his most trusted ally.
1. Hesitation breeds Weakness

Hiya all of you awesome readers! It is I Alim! _And I his new Wife Lana! _Yeah, So those of you who have read our recent stories might be wondering just, "What the hell is going on!?" Well, you see we are stuck, _To put it mildly, _in our other story StLA. We will be working on Plus! And it's chapter should be up soon! _Anyways, Alim and I have been reading a lot of fan fictions recently, _Yup and one thing we had seen as a theme that interested us was a sort of What If Story. The big 'What if' Interest we had was a Dark / Bad/ Evil type of story. _Basically speaking this story is going to 'Hopefully' go wrong in every way. _Right so Wish us luck to pull off this vision we had.

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Hesitation breeds weakness, These words were told to me by my Father years ago. My Father, a not so secret worshiper of the felll dragon Grima, was to most a completely insane man. He wanted to revive Grima, destroy the world we lived in and not really care what became of anything or anyone in the process. I used to debate this with myself, was the destruction of the world necessary? To see everyone killed and devoured by Grima? These debates were always mental, I kept them inside as my Father taught me everything he could all in preparation for me to be old enough to accept Grima inside of me.

I had a grand destiny apparently, The only person to ever be able to hold Grima's soul in thousand years. It was surprisingly good timing as Grima was to be returning soon. I was told I needed to be strong in all areas, mind, body, skill and if even one of these were lacking I might not be the perfect host for the dragon. My Father hired the best and brightest teachers that were followers of 'our' cult, he didn't know everything after all but, I had to apparently. These teachers were just as hard and strict as my Father was while he taught me. If I did good I was praised with words such as 'I think Grima would approve' or 'As to be expected of Grima's vessel" but, that was all I was to everyone, Grima's vessel.

My mother, I didn't really know her that well. All I do know of her was that she tried to save me from this life, and her reward was a swift execution by the man she once loved. It happened early, just before I heard those words from my Father. Hesitation breeds weakness and he didn't even hesitate to kill her. The lessons started soon after that day and lasted nearly all day, everyday, at night I would pass out from exhaustion or pain that my body had introduced to. When I woke the next morning the process would continue, and continue for years until he showed up.

Of course it wasn't as if he appeared out of a cloud of dark smoke and chanted about destroying everything in sight. No, it was just a simple dark growling in my mind that turned to a voice of pure hate.

"So your my host eh?" I remember at the time I had been lying on my bed waiting for sleep to claim me. After many years of training for him I no longer passed out at night. I never told my teachers of this of course for I needed some break from the life I had been given.

"I guess I am, Lord Grima." The dragon snorted in disapproval after I spoke. His voice grew slightly angrier. If that was even possible. I wondered what he really looked like normally though I was curious the most as to if I met his expectations.

"First of all, mortal, You and I are one now. So you are Lord Grima to those worthless teachers and your pathetic Father. We will keep my presence a secret from most of course, So we will use your name Robin. Understand." I nodded slightly to his voice that brimmed with anger and annoyance for a moment. I began thinking again if I met his approval, since I had been bred and trained for him. As I thought this he growled slightly for a moment as if to show even more annoyance at my thoughts.

"You are fine mortal, Now then I am to rest as will you. You do what I say when I say it and if you don't I will just take you over and force you to do it anyway. So let's just get along, you understand?" I nodded outwardly even though his words haunted me the first time he spoke them, the only time he ever spoke them. As I laid to rest, sleep finally coming over me, I wondered briefly if things would change.

Things of course did change and at first not for better. Grima had told me to keep his presence a secret for now. So my training continued as if nothing happened but, then after about week with Grima's presence in my mind, things took a rather drastic turn. I didn't even realize it at first not until the sight of blood that came from the swordsman who had been my teacher since my mother's death flashed into my vision. The blood leaking out and the sound of a body hitting the ground and the soft rolling of a head towards my Father's feet caused a short moment of nausea to try to worm it's way loose from inside of me.

Grima's growl of disapproval for my reaction to the sight had promptly caused me to attempt not to lose my breakfast all over the training room's floor. My Father picked up the head of the swordsman looking over the cut that I had made causing it's removal from the formerly breathing body.

"Clean, smooth, perfect. You did good so far today my Child, let's see how much more you have improved." This trend continued, A former pirate captain who had trained me axes had received his own axe into his head. My magic teacher had been burned and shocked at the same time, the two magics coming from different hands. I had impaled my lance teacher through his heart causing it to be thrust out of his body. I then had the privilege of chasing down my old bow instructor and had shot an arrow straight through the back of his head. No hesitation, no weakness.

My Father bowed before me for a moment as the bodies I had created laid around me. He then smiled slightly, the same smile he always had whenever he had come up with cruel new way to train me. With a snap of his fingers a young child, no more than about seven maybe, had been brought into the room. Her eyes filled with tears and I already knew what I was to do.

"Kill her," The words were simple and the action would have caused most to falter, to hesitate. Except I didn't, my sword laid against her neck for a mere second before removing the child's head with clean precision. My Father, no, a pathetic mortal bowed before me again.

"I live to serve you my Lord." He said, that was his mark of approval. A mark I didn't need, for he had already figured out that Grima had inhabited me earlier. He would have his uses and that would put him as one of the last I would kill. Grima and I had become interchangeable, there was so little difference in the way he and I acted that you would never know that Robin ever existed. After the announcement within the Grimleal went out that I was reborn and the annoying chanting that they had done of my new name I set out to design my plan of revenge and destruction.

The plan would be simple, so simple and yet ingenious in it's execution. Fake amnesia simple so very simple. All I had to do was pretend to be a amnesiac tactician, aid in a war that we would secretly push for, unleash legions of my Risen soldiers to attack the people and then stop them, and after gaining the trust of the one person who could destroy me, kill him without so much as an inch of hesitation. Easy, a bit long winded but, easy. So I set my eyes on Ylisse, and a certain blue haired lord named Chrom.

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Figuring Chrom's patrol out was easy, getting him to allow me in his Shepherd's would take careful planning and the aid of someone who would be loyal to me till the end. Surprisingly my Father had just the person to help. Aversa, A woman with a high magic level and a high class dark flier in her own right, she was loyal, if a bit deceived into that loyalty. Not that it bothered me of course. Aversa had already been aiding us during the years of my training and was now a 'loyal' servant to the king of Plegia, who was sending out bandits to attack Ylisse. This would make a perfect opportunity to get in Chrom's good side. I just needed to time it very carefully.

As I laid against the field with my eyes closed envisioning the end of the world with a small smile. Grima who had been mostly quiet growled slightly in frustration. I was getting better to tell the differences in his growls and so I spoke to him internally.

Something wrong Grima? **Yes, it is a little wrinkle in our plans. **And that is? **I received a bunch of knowledge, memories of our destruction of this realm from us, from the future. **If we were Successful then, **No, A few children of those Shepherd's even ones who have not joined yet escaped from them to the past. **Do they know who we are? **No, **Then we are fine, they will die as the rest so long as they never figure it out.

Grima chuckled slightly though as most of his words and actions came out as if it was filled with evil intent. I merely smiled for a moment and waited for my 'savior'. I heard the steps of hard leather against the ground in front of me, Then two voices spoke to each other for a moment as I simply listened waiting for a perfect opportunity.

"Chrom we have to do something!" The voice of a young woman who spoke in a high shout. Chrom answered her rather quickly.

"What should we do?" The girl whoever she was shouted at him in mild irritation.

"I don't know just..." Her words were cut off as I chose to open my eyes to look them over. There was a third who stood behind them though he seemed ready to defend them from me if necessary.

"Hi there!'" The girl spoke happily for a moment, her eyes seemed to sparkle in the sunlight and for a mere moment I took interest, until Chrom spoke again.

"There are better places to sleep then on the ground you know? Here take my hand." I reached up taking his hand as he pulled me up from the ground. Chrom seemed to look me over a moment as if checking if I was hurt from afar.

"Are you hurt?" I looked myself over a moment. I then scratched my head slightly as if I was confused.

"I don't know, I can't really remember, Where am I?" I looked around for a moment in confusion as the girl shouted out for a moment.

"He has amnesia! Chrom we have to help him!" Chrom nodded for a moment and spoke with a calm and friendly tone.

"You might live around here, we are going to a nearby village would you like to come with us? Perhaps you know someone there?" I nodded for a moment and gave him a friendly smile.

"Sure, thank you Chrom." The knight then seemed to take this as a fine moment to join the conversation.

"How do you millord's name!? He claims amnesia and yet speaks your name." I looked at him for a moment as Grima snorted in my mind in annoyance.

"Well this young lady did say his name a couple of times." I said with a hint of annoyance and bit of 'Geez are you stupid' inside of it.

"Frederick please, What is your name?" I rubbed the back of my head for a moment trying to decide if I should just tell him now or wait.

"I think it's Robin but, that's all that seems to really click right now." The knight still seemed suspicious of me and is at least the current biggest threat to my plan. The four of us marched towards the town as I had hoped and I stopped for a moment speaking to them.

"So like, What happens if no one knows me there?" The three stopped as well as I spoke and then Chrom shrugged for a moment.

"I am not sure, we can speak of that after." As he turned to walk away the girl then spoke for a moment with a bright smile.

"I'm Lissa by the way! I didn't tell you my name so, yeah." She hung her head slightly which caused me to smile ,which was something I hadn't done in a long time. The girl was obviously not very combat focused. A healer by the looks of her. She would need to be protected in the coming battle. I smiled for a moment in an attempt to fake friendliness.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Lissa. I hope we can be friends one day." she blushed slightly and nodded though she cast her gaze away to hide the blush, upon doing so however her eyes caught the village and it's burning buildings. She promptly shouted out towards Chrom.

"Chrom look!" The blaze of orange fire that had engulfed portions of the town could be seen alongside the large smoke trail that came from the buildings. Chrom shouted out for a moment as did everyone who saw something that bothered them. He then quickly spoke to the others.

"We need to hurry," Fredrick the knight looked at Chrom.

"And him my lord?" Chrom shook his head starting to run off with a shout.

"If he's not on fire then he's fine now let's go!" The three left in a rush leaving me alone for a moment. I chuckled with a smirk as everything seemed to be falling in place. I started towards the town with a light jog. Grima chuckled evily in unison with me just as we drew close both of us in firm agreement that everything would fall into place.

If only I knew how wrong we were...

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So there we have it! The beginning, we of course skipped the premonition battle since even though it still happened, Robin, Having fully embraced Grima simply allowed a transfer of memories. So one major change that we have so far is that there won't be two Robins. Also we haven't fully decided on his appearance just yet which was why it wasn't mentioned. It will be mentioned in the next chapter though so stay tuned.

Also we already decided on the pairing for our Avatar, _Yup it was an easy decision for us! _So while his is set, we haven't picked out the others and Morgan will be involved though she'll be a bit different! So we hoped you enjoyed this! _Review, Fav, Follow if you want! _And we will answer!

Till next time! _Byes!_


	2. Dealing with the Knight

So, after asking a few people their thoughts about a certain issue that I had encountered, which was more of a debate to myself. We are having a major character, removed from play. You'll see shortly what I mean by this. Anyway just felt the need to warn you that we are losing someone.

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As I walked into the village Chrom was in mild state of panic and uncertainty. He probably couldn't come up with any sort of plan of attack or so I guessed. He was weak, how easy could it be to just kill him now? Grima growled in anger in response to my thoughts. **No, We will kill him when he is strong and trusts you, it will be much more enjoyable. **Very well, still I walked forward and shouted out his name and he stared at me in surprise.

"Robin you followed us?" I sighed in annoyance and nodded looking around the village. The easiest answer in this situation was, to completely and utterly lie to him.

"This could be my home Chrom! I have to help! My family could be hurt so I want to help, damn it! Plus I'm stronger than you think." A lot stronger, strong enough to tear your throat out and have a taste of exalted blood. **It is probably dangerous to drink his Robin, though if your willing to test the theory I'd rather taste the actual Exalt's blood, just saying.** I smiled happily at the thought Grima had given me and stood observing the field.

"Just let me think of a plan okay?" Frederick stood his hand near his weapon with that same suspicious look he had ever since we met.

"A strategist are you?" I shook my head as I tried to focus on the battle though I gave an answer to Frederick's question as I figured out a convincing plan.

"Tactician, there's a slight difference in that I can actually fight as well. Just remembered that by the way." I smiled at him and his eyes narrowed. I still needed to sound convincing, so perhaps this would work out. Still as of right now, this Frederick would not last the night if I had anything to say about it.

"Alright Chrom, you and Freddy here can go and team up dealing with a few guys to our left. I know or remember sort of, how to use magic and I'd rather keep you a bit far from it in case it backfires. Also Lissa should stay near me in the event I get hurt which will more likely than not happen. After that, there's a bridge which we can attack together in unison after Lissa heals any damage you might have suffered. Understand?" Chrom nodded, Lissa smiled big and Frederick gave me a look that was basically saying, your a damned liar. Though he had no proof, and he would never once I get my chance to slowly end him.

The plan of course went off without much problem, I had to hold back considerably and even allowed a lucky shot from a swordsman to slash me. I also made my first spell veer way off course, 'Accidentally' but, it served it's purpose. After we won and asking a few questions that equaled no one knowing who I was. Chrom offered me a place in the Shepherd's claiming that he 'Needed my skills' and that I 'Fought to save Ylissian lives' even though Frederick tried to convince him otherwise. I sighed for a moment as we marched towards the capital to meet the current Exalt, I needed to deal with this Frederick and fast.

Summoning up a Risen as I gathered firewood for the camp we had made and making it go and deliver a message to Aversa so I could borrow her talents. I figured I would need to officially meet and use her to my end. Just needed to get out of the damned camp without anyone noticing and without hurting my back on this stupid bed of twigs and leaves. I slowly started to sneak out of the camp shortly after sleep claimed them and cast a small illusion over the 'bed' to make it seem as if I were sleeping still. I sighed leaning against the tree about a mile away and waited for her to show up.

"Lord Grima, I am sorry for making you wait." Aversa spoke from behind me as I stood within the depths of the forest with a frown. I started pacing as my thoughts ran quickly on a few good ideas for the night, the sky seemed to be motionless as I paced but, what the hell should I do? A slit throat? Burning alive? Maybe chop him up and feed to a bear, he seems so fond of them. Hm, decisions decisions.

"Aversa, be careful where you speak my name. Now then, I have a problem." She lowered her head submissively as I looked at her. My eyes started picking out key strengths she had and as I had been told her magic was definitely high. She was also extremely gifted in the dark arts but, could she be gifted enough for that?

"Whatever it is I am sure you are more than capable to deal with it." I nodded, of course I was, but sighed thinking on how exactly to draw them away. I tapped my boot against the ground with a slight growl of frustration. I was becoming more like Grima with each minute that passed though it was of no worry to myself.

"Aversa, I was told you were loyal, just how far are willing to go for us, for me?" I crossed my arms and she rose her head looking into my eyes. The pale moonlight that provided the single light source amongst us caused her to have a slight glow as she walked directly in front of me. She started to circle me slowly and seductively as she spoke with a tone of confidence that few held at least in my recent memory.

"I would kill all your enemies, I would burn a thousand villages in your name, I would make the very earth crumble to dust if you desired. Tell me what I must do and I will ensure it will happen." I smirked for a second and held out my hand, she stopped in front me taking it into her own. I pulled her as close as possible to me and spoke with a slight grin.

"Then take my gift," My free hand glowed a dark purple color similar to the one that created the mark upon my hand. I pressed the energy of magic into her head digging in the magic as if I was trying to force it into her mind. She surprised me by not screaming from the pain, her teeth merely clenched and her face became rigid as she tried to ignore the increasing intensity of the magic. I pulled my hand away and just stepped back from her she caught herself though her body was weak. She shook her head than looked at me as her eyes started to glow a dark purple for a few seconds providing the sign I needed.

"Hm, you accepted it well. Now that you know how, show me your ability with my gift." Aversa nodded not making a sound, she held her palms out as they started to glow with the new spell. The ground shook around us and than a hand ripped out of the earth, followed by another, and another. Soon the hands that appeared pulled themselves from the earth and there stood a small team of Risen. I smirked evilly looking them over, they were strong, stronger than I expected from a mortal at least.

"Good, Now listen to my orders well Aversa and I will make sure your awarded." I reached over touching her cheek, she let out a soft growl which could have been similar to a purr. I whispered my orders into her ear to which she grinned in excitement than after hopping onto her pegasus. She took off with the slightest smirk of seduction on her face towards me.

"Now than, time to return and prepare." After getting back inside the camp and quickly putting Chrom to a state of sleep, I rapidly returned to the bed without him noticing. I then slowly channeled a small amount of magic out of me not moving even an inch now. The dark magic plagued the area for a few moments causing Chrom to snap out of the small daze he had been in. He stood uneasy looking around wondering what the thing he felt was, Lissa woke a few seconds later. Due to her being more noticing of a magical use though she wasn't sure what it was. She insisted on going with Chrom and the two left just as I planned. I rose from the bed with a small smile standing over Frederick. I tapped the side of my head thinking about a good way to start the Shepherd's death list. Grima than chose to growl again, **Do not kill him, Eliminate him as a threat but, him dying would make us a suspect no matter how you try talk around it. **

I sighed in frustration and displeasure and leaned down over him, I channeled a spell over him with a small smile believing that this should be enough, it quickly draped him in darkness. He let out a slight scream of agony and than laid still. I smirked and walked over to my bed to enjoy a quick rest before Aversa struck with her first legion of Risen. This is going to be fun I thought with the fiendishly evil grin on my face.

When the ground shook around us, I stood quickly looking around in fake panic not that it was needed. Frederick himself however was looking around in even more real panic as he tried to make sense of what was happening. He cursed out loud as I shouted out to him.

"Damn it what's wrong, Lissa and Chrom are missing! We have to find them!" Frederick gripped his head as if he couldn't process what was happening just as the ground shook again this time as it slowly subsided. He landed onto his knees and yelled out into the night sky.

"Why can't I see!" I grinned my usual evil grin. though stayed in my role as tactician. I grabbed him and pulled him up to his horse placing him the back end of it. I got in front and rode towards where I knew Chrom and Lissa were, right by a huge portal to summon a legion of Risen.

"We will find them okay, just stay calm! We can fix this but, we need Chrom first!" Except a major part of this was a lie, there was no way to fix this. Unless I ever chose to get rid of the spell. I smiled and rode faster in firm belief that my plan was still going strong.

And I would never believe that I was still wrong about that.

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Here's another quick chapter for you all! As a quick note, Eventually certain people will be killed by Robin, in some way. Any person he believes is a threat to his plan he will try to find a way to deal with them. If it is possible that is, in this case as Grima mentioned he would be suspect of having involvement in my mind so crippling him was suggested to me. We will see how this plays out in the future so stay tuned!

Also to our guest reviewer, We had thought of Lucina originally but, after reading the general layout we had made for this story found that she could never work. Ever but, you are on the right track for who his wife will be. We did also consider Tharja but dropped her as well, though she could fit the general theme we wanted, there's just too many Fics for her in our opinion and thus we chose someone with next to no fics. So you can try and figure it out if you want! Byes for now! =3


	3. A hated enemy and helping an ally

Hiya, my dearly beloved Readers! Welcome to the next chapter of Nightmare! This time we have a scene that well, might just surprise you. So without further ado, Let's get started!

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Riding through the forest with Frederick was strange at best. Sure, I had blinded him and perhaps even enjoyed it in that moment but, right now? I just wanted to throw the bastard off my horse with his constant questions. 'Did we find Chrom,' 'Is Chrom alright?' Grima, I seriously wish I hadn't listened to you back there. **I thought we agreed to doing whatever I say once upon a time? **I sighed heavily, and spurred the horse on to go faster. The portal just in front of us had dropped something, else, it definitely wasn't a Risen I know that much. My teeth started to grind in mild anger over what I already realized was going to be another problem to our plans.

As I rode into the clearing, well, it would be the first time I would meet my most hated enemy. I already knew, within seconds of seeing this person, as she slashed a Risen at the same time as Chrom, that I would hate her ever loving guts. Not that she looked overly feminine at this point, just that I already knew who she was. I guess those memories weren't bullshit after all Grima. Grima snorted in mild annoyance yet, deemed my comment not worth commenting on himself.

"Chrom we got a problem!" I shouted just as they finished with those Risen. Chrom looked at me and Frederick's look of panic and dismay.

"What happened?" He shouted rushing over with Lissa, completely ignoring the masked future princess over there. I helped Frederick off the horse and he spoke in an almost pained voice, though he tried to sound strong.

"I don't know Milord, I can't see and it feels like my whole body is burning from the inside." Lissa didn't really need to have Chrom ask, which he was about to do, she tried almost immediately to heal him with the only effect being, Frederick screaming in pain. I sighed in mock sadness as I pretended to have no idea what happened.

"We have bigger problems! Look!" I would be forever surprised by her attempt to bring utterly more important things back to our minds. The Risen had started pouring into the clearing, she dashed off towards a group of them taking nearly half of what was summoned, and well we began the battle.

Having told Chrom to stand back and defend Frederick, to which he was almost eager to do that part. Lissa also stood by them in hopes of figuring out what had happened to him. I had to of course, lead the attack basically alone, good news? There wasn't much here that could even touch me on a bad day so, I was confident that we were to be fine. I stopped for a moment as a thought crossed my mind, I shook it off with a mumble of 'later' and proceeded to attack the Risen here.

Midway through the battle, an archer's arrow had just flown by my ear taking out a Risen. I turned to look seeing a really strange Archer going on about being the 'Archest of Archers' or something. Either way I knew I would need to focus on the task ahead. After the last enemy had been destroyed by another new person, this time a cavalier of some sort, apparently her name was Sully as I would learn later. After these introductions had been made, she showed up again.

"You saved my sister's life earlier, what is your name?" She placed her hand on the hilt of her sword for a moment and at that same time my heart nearly stopped. Falchion? Couldn't our future selves get rid of that stupid thing before letting her come back here? **No, she is apparently another we must kill before we grind this world to dust.**

"You may call me Marth," I chuckled softly under my breath so no one would hear. Marth? Well, I can play along as I am supposed to, for now.

"As in Marth, like the heroic king of old?" Lissa spoke this time, Frederick meanwhile, was now even having trouble to speak as he tried to say something with a small groan. Chrom looked at Frederick in sadness for a moment, Sully and Virion were trying to see if anything could help as well, as we talked to Marth.

"He fights like a hero that's for sure, who taught you to fight like that?" You did? Marth let out a low sigh with a shake of her head.

"I'm not here to talk about me, this world stands at the brink of a horrible calamity, and he is only the beginning." Marth mentioned towards Frederick which made some sense to me. More likely than not I had at some point dealt with others. Somehow, might be interesting to review those memories a bit closer one day. Marth had left at this point and I looked at Chrom speaking to him an idea.

"We should rest awhile till morning Chrom. He might improve with time?" Chrom nodded taking my suggestion. We simply chose to rest here till the morning but, I needed to do something. I just wanted to know is all.

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(A nearby cliff – Robin – Standing over the body of Aversa)

"Seems I was right." I looked Aversa over for a few moments. She was alive, if only barely. The magic in her had been exhausted performing the orders I had given her. She would need to rest for a few hours, though she was currently passed out only a few feet from her pegasus. I started to reach down to pick her up when Grima spoke to me in anger, **What are you doing!?**

"Helping her, what's it look like?" I said outwardly towards the prisoner in my mind. He snapped for a moment again, **Why, just leave her! She is a worthless mortal just like all the rest.** I sighed heavily for a moment, shaking my head.

"Grima, give me another reason besides that she's just another Mortal." Grima deemed my question unimportant, and instead chose to deem me unworthy. **Do not take pity on her or anyone, they will all be destroyed eventually!** I paused for a moment and spoke a question that had been secretly troubling me.

"What happens after? I mean, after we destroy everything?" Grima again didn't hesitate: **We would rule over this land.**

"Rule over what? If we destroy every single mortal, there wouldn't be shit to rule over but burned buildings, dead bodies, and maybe Risen, at most. I am not living a life like that, Grima." Grima, this time, actually hesitated. It surprised me that he held no answer, though when he did, it simultaneously surprised and annoyed me: **What, you're making this female your mate, or something?** I looked at Aversa, and then shook my head.

"No, I would never go within fifty yards of her with an engagement ring or what have you." Grima's tone changed for a moment as if he were curious to my reasons. **Why not?**

"Let me ask you this, if you were a pathetic mortal, who could marry a woman who had no idea she had been basically lied to her entire life, and you knew about it. Would you marry her?" **I would never be like your kind and it wouldn't matter, she steps out of line and I'd just kill her.** I sighed again and started picking Aversa up. I carried her to the pegasus with Grima continuing to shout in my mind about how I was wasting my time. I placed her on the back of it and lightly pet the dark feathered mount in front of me.

"Can you take her home, or at least somewhere safe?" It let out a neigh for a moment and started to take off, flying towards Plegia. **Worthless, what a waste of our time!** Grima, you will never understand the importance of having allies, will you? I will not rule over a destroyed a land, and even one act of kindness will ensure a stronger bond with my allies. **Pathetic, don't bring your useless mortality into this.** I shrugged and started to head back to the camp, wondering briefly if this little argument would cause issues in the future.

When dawn broke and Frederick showed little signs of improving, We marched towards Ylisstol. I had been given the pleasure of riding on Fredrick's horse to ensure his safety. I had also noticed Grima's utter lack of his usual growls in my mind, perhaps that stupid dragon was brooding or something. Just as we rode into Ylisstol, I let out a low sigh just realizing that my plan had gotten a lot more complicated.

And for once, I was actually right about something.

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I should probably mention this, the reason there's a lot of dialogue basically skipped over. Is well you already know what they say normally. I will just add things like changes, who speaks for Fredrick from now on and things of that nature. Every other bit of normal canon dialogue, will be mostly Robin doing his little internal comments like he has been so far.

Anyway, to our guest reviews, No. All of those ideas are wrong for who Robin's wife will be, BUT! You are right about at least one of them being corrupted to Robin's side. So, while not his wife, one of them will be married to a regular shepherd who will also be corrupted! Yes, like Robin mentioned in this chapter, he is trying to figure out what happens after and through the course of the story will gather allies to his cause, who are basically the survivors of his plan.

Well, now that that is done, Follow, fav, review. I love to hear from you guys!

With a dark sadistic grin,

Lana Bloodmoon =3


	4. The first of many?

Chapter 4: The first of many?

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I would never understand the smiles these people wore each and every moment. They were on the brink of war, and yet still they smiled constantly, in their every waking moment. They grinned as if they all possessed some truth beyond my understanding, every time I saw them, but I suspected the opposite was true: I was too wise to believe their pointless reverie. I let out a low sigh, forced to ride behind the suspicious knight, Frederick. For the briefest of moments, I considered striking myself blind so as never to have to see those shining faces again. Perhaps I was jealous. I had no reason to smile. Grima snorted disgustedly at my supposition, **Not to worry. You'll be able to reverse those circumstances before long..** My momentary introspection was interrupted by the sight of Emmeryn, the one they called the exalt. She waved contentedly at her subjects, and they returned her gesture with displays of awe and glee.

My teeth ground against themselves. Why could she bring such happiness to them? They were but servants. They didn't understand the true nature of their relationship with this woman. She ruled them. They were but playthings to her, objects to do with as she desired, and yet here they lauded her with their expressions of joy, egging on her superior behavior. She would go to her grave with the crying of a hundred thousand sets of eyes, none of whom she had ever cared for. And yet they were happy. Why couldn't I feel the same? My thoughts returned to the beast within He was a part of me, and we were inextricably linked, but were we of the same values. Our ideals had already differed once on my journey. **You will heed what I have said,** the Fell Dragon reminded me,** If you refuse to act of your own accord, rest assured I will relieve you of the opportunity to do so.** I rubbed the back of my head in discomfort. They were conversing about bringing us to meet the exalt. After all, Virion needed to be introduced, and so did I.

I continued along with them until we reached the palace, whereupon Frederick was forced to be recovered by a team of healers, as he grunted in pain just in time for our arrival. I certainly didn't need him there, spouting his suspicions in front of the exalt for who knows how long. From there, I would meet the Exalt, and continue my charade for her until she was satisfied that I posed no threat. Then I would join the other princess of Ylisse, Chrom's sister, Lissa, to meet with some of Chrom's own gang of heroes for hire: the Shepherds.

One of them in particular captured my interest. Her eyes lingered towards the door with a knitted brow, consistent with her generally troubled demeanor, "I trust Captain Chrom is safe?" I didn't care for what she was saying; I only produced an interest in her by virtue of her being one half of the reason for the creation of my most petulant enemy, Lucina. Her fingers were busily plucking a bundle of flower petals. Shortly, another woman, who had charged in at first, demanding to know of the safety of Lissa, to whom she referred as her "Treasure," mused to this Pegasus-knight-in-training, "he is our captain. I suspect we have precious little to worry about." I could tell from the look in the Pegasus knight's eye that the response was dissatisfactory.

Lissa introduced me to a shirtless man, already appearing to be little more than a street rat, whose entrance was followed by a burp. It didn't help that this… joke of a man repeated his name in every sentence his perverse mouth uttered. "That's disgusting," I remarked at the belch of this man, called Vaike. He certainly could never forget his own name, but I would make a concerted effort to see that I did.

Vaike groaned as if I had wounded him, "Sheesh, just what we needed: Another stick-in-the-mud." I cast a glare his way, but dispensed with it quickly, ensuring the support of the pretense of being friendly toward the group.

Maribelle, however, did my work for me and cut the man down with a glare of her own, shouting at him, "Vaike you ingrate, enough!" She smiled gently over her shoulder at me attracting my attention. I watched her eyes trail up and down along my body, inspecting me to see if I fit into what I could already tell were her exacting standards, "Pay him no heed, dear. It's wonderful to have another individual who seems to be acquainted with polite sensibility aboard." Polite sensibility? Hardly. Dignity, or common decency, perhaps.

I recognized her type. A few pretty words and I would be in her good graces for quite some time, "The same to you, Lady Maribelle. I'm pleased to be met with one of such nobility here." I noticed Lissa appearing to leer at her friend, but the other blonde ignored it. She strode gallantly out of the barracks following our brief exchange, mentioning helping her family with some business or other. Not long behind her, Chrom wandered in. Sumia, the woebegone Pegasus knight, rushed toward the Ylissean prince excitedly on his entrance, in much the same way Maribelle had frenziedly greeted Lissa. She tripped along her way, however, over what seemed to be nothing. Chrom furrowed his brow at her as she collapsed. I got the sense her little trip to the ground wasn't planned.

It didn't take Chrom long to mention his orders; we were heading to Ferox to request the aid of the Khan, and the consequent available soldiers, something Ylisse would desperately need to surmount the Plegian army. I had to scoff in amusement as I considered the state in which these Ylisseans were left: I could not discern whether they had any standing army, save their corps of Pegasus knights, and Chrom's own little mercenary group. Their situation regarding national defense was far from ideal. I lay down to rest that night having been provided my own personal quarters, a luxury enjoyed by few among the Shepherds, though it was given under the justification that I was the tactician, and so may be in need of more space to work or additional silence to comfort myself amid the stress of planning. Chrom informed me of a box that would be carried in the convoy which would contain all known literature regarding military strategy from the palace library, available for my use whenever I should require it.

I yawned and shut my eyes, already a bit fatigued by the whole business. Grima spoke to me in his usual low growling, which took me by surprise; I had figured if there was any sentiment he would feel toward me at this moment, it would not be frustration, **Shouldn't you be working, tactician?** I was more than a little confused as to why he would be questioning my work ethic.

I replied to him in the manner I typically did when we were absent company, "Why bother?" Grima snorted in greater anger,**Because you're an amnesiac, remember? If you aren't working on something, they may become suspicious.** I voiced my displeasure, but could not begrudge the dragon, for he had a point. Rising from the bed, I unfolded a map of the region of Ferox we planned to visit and determined a route, hoping that I could support my own charade and devise a suitable plan. A light, dainty knock on the door distracted me almost as soon as I had begun. I replied to it unenthusiastically, "Come in."

The door creaked open revealing a familiar face: the noble Lady Maribelle. The one who had fretted about Lissa, if I recalled correctly, though it was now her presence that worried me. "Hello, Robin. I do beg your pardon for intruding." She stepped inside my room, in shutting the door quietly behind her. Her posture was straight and tall, reflecting the observably high opinion of herself she held, "Are you busy?"

I was a bit surprised by the question. It was reasonably clear that I was not, "Not really, I'm sure Chrom has already figured out the route, anyway, cavalier as he is." I slid myself sideways in the chair to face her more properly, "I thought you had to help your family with something?" Grima let out a sigh from within my mind, leaving me to wonder why he had done so.

She maintained her composure, though I could see her hands twitch briefly as if she fought to avoid sating a nervous habit of hers, "It was a trifling matter; I wasn't really needed either way." I indulged her with a noncommittal response. Still, she changed the subject, "I heard from Lissa: Amnesia, correct?"

I nodded tiredly, a bit put off that I would need to continue this ruse for some time, "Yes, though it really is strange: I remember my name and all my skills as a tactician, but that's about it." I crossed my arms across my chest in consideration, though probably not of what the young lady believed. "So," I picked my head up, eager to bring the focus away from myself, "If I may ask, why have you shown up here, of all places, in the dead of night?"

She continued to stand straight, though her head lowered bowed apologetically with my question, "Nothing, really, it's only…" She hesitated, and in that moment of hesitation I seized upon the weakness that revealed her true reasoning. I smirked and stood from my chair, approaching her. The blonde length of her hair was done up perfectly to her style. An odd thought crossed my mind just before she spoke again, "I should go. Right, yes, that's only proper."

My hand lashed forward and seized hers, gripping it firmly as I pulled her back from her hasty retreat. "Even a noblewoman can be a little improper sometimes," I teased, catching her. She stiffened again in response, though neither of our hands moved from the other. She didn't speak, as words appeared to be failing her. I smiled genuinely, my lips lowered upon hers, the space between us made up by a length shorter than that of our own breath, "I leave the choice in your hands, Lady Maribelle." She didn't turn away from me. And here I had assumed I would never be surprised by this noblewoman.

Her lips pressed against mine. For the first time in quite some time, I was confused, and perhaps even a bit frightened, as I hadn't committed this act myself, and I knew not what, precisely, it entailed. Flirting to achieve one's desires was practically a staple of the teaching among Ylissean dark mages (though more frequently with the women, obviously) so I was acquainted with the procedure, but knew precious little about the actions that were intended to follow. I kissed her back in an attempt to appear at least remotely cognizant of what was happening. Our lips parted in unison, and, to my small relief, her next words were more predictable, "I should go, Robin." She softly removed herself from my grip and started for the door.

I touched my lips momentarily and, prior to her leaving, halted her. "Maribelle?" she froze in place, but was hesitant to turn around, "Perhaps we should… speak more later?" She glanced back at me with a smile painted on her lips, exiting promptly. Grima snorted in my mind, wholly disgusted with the notion of me taking things farther with her. I was unfortunately then reminded of my work as I was forced to look back down onto the map. Begging for a distraction, I wondered what would become of the one who was to be Maribelle's husband,

My head sunk in fatigue as I muttered aloud, "More complicated was right, I guess." I poured over the map and studied several of the strategic books all throughout the evening in an effort to put my mind at ease, at least until the next morning, that was.

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Hiya everyone! So your probably wondering what happened huh? Well I've had a long debate with myself over this story, and came to the conclusion that I really can't do Noire just yet. After all she wouldn't appear for a long time ruining the possibity of Romance within the story. So as for now, I take back my previous statement, I have no idea who I am going to marry Robin to in this story, as I write and work out the plans of the story, it will hopefully come to me.

So put simply, Sorry to everyone, I will be writing as I always do but, I can't reveal or set a wife at this time, due to the fact I have no idea who to use at all myself. -_-

Anyway, please follow, Fav, review, or even complain!

Lana Bloodmoon :3


	5. The ruby haired merchant

Chapter 5: The ruby haired merchant

The next morning came quickly, something for which I was quite grateful, it meant that I would, at least, be spared the torment of reflecting on my own actions. Even more than concerning myself with the notion of Maribelle's husband, I had to endure Grima's berating disapproval. I was surprised to take note of the utter lack of organization on the part of the Shepherds prior to our recent battles. They demonstrated a markedly weak understanding of the events that were soon slated to befall them. Aversa had been working her own magic quite often, whether for practice or perhaps simply as an effort to aid in dismantling minor targets in Ylisse I couldn't be overly certain.

Still, this lack of organization would slowly annoy me to the core, a point upon which my resident dragon and I finally agreed. Honestly, who in the hell forgets their ax, of all things? Thankfully, Miriel, a mage, had the sense to recover the lost weapon for the buffoon who had lost it. The battle itself was quick. I relegated myself to a minor role, protecting Chrom's sister from harm as she healed her comrades. What precious few attacks managed to break through our ranks to her position I swatted away without issue.

It wasn't long before Chrom dealt the final blow to the chief of this particular crowd and the creatures were gone. "The Risen have already made it this far down?" Chrom complained idly, kicking the body of the Risen's chief just as Lissa and I ran up. Lissa began tending to the minor wounds marking her brother as he frowned "It seems nowhere will be safe soon."

I stood beside him with a small smile and patted his shoulder to show my solidarity, "Don't worry Chrom, as long as we're around, we can defeat them, and Ylisse will be safe." He sighed at me, informing me he was unconvinced and prompting me to continue, "At any rate, I can cook up a new plan whenever our foes confront us." Chrom nodded up at me in affirmation of my remarks as Lissa finished her work. The prince slowly slumped over, evidently fatigued by the skirmish and slightly winded by the sheer volume of injuries he had endured.

Lissa smiled warmly in my direction shortly thereafter, "Thanks for protecting me back there, Robin." I nodded neutrally in reply. The girl's well being didn't concern me, but I did need to protect my image among the Shepherds, and protecting their most fragile member, who simultaneously happened to be the sister to their commander, was both a good way to ingratiate myself to the group and to avoid the brunt of real combat against what were essentially my own troops.

More than a few considerations ran through my mind on a nigh-constant basis. I began to think about how circumstances might have been different if I had encountered Chrom and company without the influence of the Fell Dragon hanging over my head like some sort of eldritch chaperon. Naturally, Grima himself was loath to sit and listen to these considerations and was quick to remind me that I was but a vessel; a piece on the board meant to serve a larger role in the game about to be played.

After the battle, we ran into a pegasus, Chrom looked it over with a vaguely judicious air. I, instead, chose to wander up to it, recalling my brief encounter with Aversa's mount and expecting the creature to be similarly docile and cooperative. All at once, for one reason or another, the ivory stallion reared with a whinny and flapped its wings frantically. "Damn, this beast is crazed!" I remarked as I backed away from it. Suddenly, I was made aware of a loud thud, following a mention from Chrom about a certain someone's boots. Knowing the implication, I turned to give Sumia some room. She approached the seemingly rabid pegasus with poise, showing no difficulty and caressing its snout affably. I had to admit, her tact impressed me to a degree, and the Shepherds around me seemed to concur. She offered to care for the pegasus while holding off on our next mission, wherein we would march for Regna Ferox.

So our journey continued. Lissa took a quick rest within the convoy while I marched alongside the other Shepherds as we gradually made our way to the Feroxi border. The sharp pang of the cold that began to buffet us on entering the lands surrounding Ferox was biting and I found it a highly disenchanting shift from the normal desert hear of Plegia. Of course, things were destined to heat up in another fashion: evidently the Feroxi border guard seemed to think that we were all Plegian spies, as this appeared to have been a rather typical happenstance. Chrom endeavored to explain that he was, in fact, Ylissean royalty, but whatever bullheaded woman captained the guard was not about to be convinced. A hail of lances flew toward Chrom in the following moments, and I thought perhaps that my plan might have been concluded at this very juncture, however the bumbling pegasus knight returned at precisely that moment to rob me of my success. I supposed that I ought to have known it couldn't be that easy.

The ensuing battle was a bit more frantic than I had expected. We split into two groups, one containing Chrom, Sumia, and Vaike, as well as a knight who I had never noticed nor heard referenced beforehand called Kellam, went towards the left side. The others, Lissa, Miriel, Stahl, Sully, and I took to the right. I continued my bodyguard duties for the princess, and the twin cavaliers made short work of our remaining foes, cleaning the Feroxi up with deft lance and sword work. After extirpating the guardsmen on our side of the fort, it was a straight shot to their commander, who was also brought down with relative haste. This woman was permitted to live, however, and when she returned to her feet, she very quickly adjusted her demeanor to utter subservience, as might have been expected when one of such great pride endures so massive a humbling. The trip to the east-khan's palace was a brief one.

As we continued into the castle town that surrounded the eastern palace, I overheard Chrom expressing his concern about encountering the east-khan for the first time, and about being unsure how he would need to act before such a statesman in order to receive the frankly large request he was making. I decided I needed to speak up when I observed a marketplace full of weaponry, for which our troops were sorely lacking. "Chrom?" The prince turned his head to face me, "I believe we're in need of an improvement to our armory. I would think it advisable to stop here and purchase some new weapons, or at least repair our old ones, if you'll allow me."

Chrom nodded, "Good idea, Robin. Take as much as you require from the war chest. It's not much, but it should provide us with enough to keep ourselves going." I responded briefly in the affirmative, but was disappointed by exactly how little "not much" was: five thousand gold was scarcely enough for a passable vacation, let alone outfitting a small army. Grima had chosen to remain silent for quite some time, so I was a bit surprised when he contacted me, reminding me not to become overly attached to these Ylisseans, citing that their deaths were requisite to my plan. I would prefer not to have to call your allegiance into question, the Fell Dragon had said with equal impression of formality and intimidation. I replied with a simple "of course" and silenced the deity so that I could focus on moving deeper into the market, hoping to find a more interesting or useful variety of inventory than I had observed thus far. Therein I found a stall that would catch my interest.

I eyed up the stall, noting that it seemed different from the others. There was more to it, that much was for certain. Curiously, there seemed to be no limit to the inventory at this little stall. Succumbing to my desire to investigate, I drew closer.

"Ooh! Well, hello there, handsome!" a young woman greeted me. Her hair was ruby red and in a ponytail, and her glowing eyes and glittering white teeth accentuated her sincere appearance. She was clearly the owner of the shop.

"Good morrow," I returned passively, trying to keep my focus on the things I needed to purchase.

"Tell me, what's a good-looking young man like yourself doing scrumming around in boring, cold, old Regna Ferox?" she asked, working her customer.

"Buying some supplies. I'm a tactician," I told her reservedly, not desiring to be distracted from my purpose.

"How exciting," her eyes flashed. I knew she was talking about the potential to profit from the needs of an army.

Wanting to move things along, I picked up an iron sword and gauged it in my hand, "How much for this blade?"

She sat it back down, waving her finger, "No, you don't want that dingy old thing, sweetie. Why not a silver sword? Much better quality. If you don't get your money's worth out of it, I'll eat my boot."

"At more than three times the cost of the iron," I noted, "I think I'll pass."

"How about if I give it to you half-off?" she bargained.

I cleared my throat and leaned over the stall's counter, "Now you're speaking my language. Will you throw in a free elixir?"

"What are you, nuts? That's like giving you a whole other half of a sword," the merchant complained.

"Oh, well," I sighed disaffectedly, "I suppose I'll just have to sate my army's needs elsewhere..."

She folded her arms in protest before relenting, "Oh, all right, you scoundrel. Silver sword and an elixir: eleven hundred gold."

"I'll take it," I paid the young woman her due and received the items, "although the steel is more cost-effective."

"You just here to spoil trade secrets, or what, bub?" she tapped her foot. We were done talking business.

"Oh, don't get all defensive with me," I returned half-heartedly, "You're the one exploiting people's ignorance."

"Hey," she shrugged, "I'm not exploiting anyone; they can go to whatever shop they want. Otherwise, what people don't know won't hurt them."

"Well, there's a bottom line I can respect," I replied honestly, "You realize it makes it you little better than a common thief, though, correct?"

Her cheeks puffed out as she pouted at me, "I've got better things to do than listen to your insults all day. Why don't you hit the road, Jack?"

"Who's Jack?" I looked to each side of myself.

She covered her mouth and giggled, "Old expression. I just meant you."

"Well," I responded, a bit confused, "I'll have you know my name is Robin, not Jack."

She continued to laugh, "Okay. Good to meet you, Robin." She finished her laughter with a coy smile, one that was different from when she had greeted me. "Now," she digressed, "I have a real question for you: is that a Plegian cloak?"

She had noticed the Eyes of Grima on my favorite article of clothing. There was no lying to this woman, "It is."

The merchant nodded comprehensively, "You know, it's not safe for Plegian boys to be playing in the khans' backyard."

"I'm hardly a 'boy,'" I scoffed in reply.

The ruby-haired woman laughed again, "I know, I was just trying to get your goat, like you were to me a few minutes ago, eh?"

"Very funny," I relayed with exorbitant irony.

"Really, though," she touched her finger to her chin, "I'm interested: what is a Plegian doing out here? And what kind of army are you leading? Is this an invasion?"

"No, nothing like that," I dissuaded, "though you seem quite calm, despite that consideration."

"Other people's wars don't interest me," she shrugged dryly, "Nobody's dumb enough to burn bridges by killing merchants, me most especially. Back to you, though; what army are you leading?"

"Ever heard of the Shepherds?" I supposed.

Her face lit up, "Really? Hah! Wait 'til I tell my sisters about this one! The exalt's brother is marching across the land with a Plegian tactician! Oh, that's beautiful!"

"Not so loud!" I chided her, "I don't want anyone to know I'm Plegian... er, yet, at least. I'm not sure they'd trust me."

"Oh yeah?" she leered at me. I had given her an opportunity, "How about you pay up for that elixir, then?"

Begrudgingly, I dug the money out of my pocket and handed it to her, "Cutpurse."

"You're cute when you're resentful," she giggled, "but your secret's safe with me, pal."

I stared at this young woman with the ruby-red hair a moment longer before my lips compelled themselves to speak, "Now you've got me curious: what is it that you're doing out here?"

"Making a living?" she shrugged with a smirk.

"What I mean is," I adjusted my collar, finding myself a bit flustered, "Why Regna Ferox?"

"Oh, it's the winter season," she responded dully, "people need blankets and the like. And then... Er, never mind."

"Don't pull that with me," I argued, "what were you going to say?"

She pretended to suddenly take notice of the hour, "I think I've got to hop along, Cassidy."

"It's Robin," I affirmed, still confused by her nicknames.

That sent her on another laughing tangent, "My point is, that's a story for another day. Maybe we can meet each other again, though."

"I think I'd like that," I admitted.

"Or maybe I'm just telling you what you want to hear," she supposed, "that's kind of what I do, after all."

"I don't think so," I found myself smiling at her, "you're easy enough to read when you look closely."

"I consider that a challenge, Mr. Tactician," the merchant smirked at me, "If you decide to stick around, I'll be in the northeastern mountains in a few days. Drop by, then we'll see who's 'easy.'" I could swear she winked at me, but she turned too fast for me to be certain.

"I never got your name," I told her as she began packing up her things.

"I'm Anna," the ruby-haired merchant said as she hefted up a crate, "and believe me when I tell you, the name's worth its weight in gold."

"So I see," I reported blandly, not sure how to respond.

She giggled, "You're more fun than my usual saps, that's for sure, Robin. I look forward to your challenge."

"Right," I nodded.

"Oh, and Robin?" she continued. I lifted my head to her. "Maybe next time, you'll let me wear that cloak... You know, to see how it feels." This time she most certainly winked.

"I await it with anticipation," I smiled.

"May the gods of the open road keep you, Robin," she waved me off.

"And you, Anna," I took my leave of her. It was curious: the young merchant had left me frustrated and dumbfounded for one of the first times in my life, and yet the sensation was practically euphoric... I felt as though I wanted her to confuse me again, there was so much inexplicable joy in the feeling. I would be sure to bring my best when next we met. I would do my best from this point to spend the rest of Shepherd's limited gold amount on a couple of new weapons as well.

After returning to the palace and rejoining Chrom and the others, I distributed the weapons among the needing Shepherds and strapped the silver sword to my own hip for future use. Chrom was pacing slowly while we waited, reissuing his doubts from before. I calmed him as I cleared my throat, "Don't worry, Chrom. I sincerely doubt the Feroxi will be belligerent toward a Ylissean." Lissa delved into her prediction of what the khan might look like, but she was almost immediately proven wrong, as a stalwart-looking woman named Flavia emerged to greet us as the east-khan. The introductions were short, and a plan was already quickly drafted to aid in Flavia's attempts to gain the throne, whereupon she would render unto Chrom the support he desired.

I settled down for a rest at long last with a heavy sigh that evening, ecstatic to feel the comfort and repose of a bed beneath me. My thoughts drifted around idly as they did when I tried to rest myself, and I found them curiously gathered in remembering Anna, the merchant girl, at least until another knock at the dead of night awoke me. "Come in, please," I allowed. "Please" was less of a request and more of an attempt to maintain the semblance of politeness, though upon retrospect, I considered it might have been better to keep the visitor away. Nonetheless, I was surprised by the identity of my guest, a phenomenon that I had noticed occurred with staggering frequency since joining the Shepherds.

Sumia drifted unassumingly into my tent, her eyes rather red. She clutched in her palms a bouquet of flower stems, gripping them like the edge of a cliff. She elected to be silent for a moment, and just before I could ask her her purpose, she murmured "Robin, um, do you have an flowers?"

The question left me dumbfounded. How I should answer this question or why she had come to ask such a thing confused me almost as much as had Anna's mocking, "Might I ask why?" She tensed up slightly, running her fingers on the stems as if they could answer for her. My eyes followed hers as she scanned the room for any visible flora.

She spoke again, this time with impatience, "I need them for flower fortunes. I do them every night, and tonight's wasn't looking very good... So, I really need more." At this I cocked my head, but chose not to remark on any of the thousands of statements of incredulity that filled my mind. Instead, I approached the small wooden table along the wall of my room and plucked the flowers from a small decorative vase that sat atop it. I handed them to her and she promptly began to tear off their petals while she walked out, muttering two phrases in constant repetition, like a sort of accursed mantra: "He loves me, He loves me not." I closed the door she had parted through still more than a bit muddled by her strange behavior. After something of a debacle to wrestle myself into sleep, I found myself dreaming of conquering the realm, not so odd, I had considered this vision frequently, but in this case I saw a ruby-haired merchant at my side. An interesting new premise, to say the least.


End file.
